Submissions

Submit an Article to Canadian Newcomer Magazine

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Articles from 250-1000 words that are useful in helping newcomers get settled in their new country, by providing guidance, instruction, advice or insight to people adapting to life in Canada.

We are interested in articles and columns including (but not limited to) Canadian lifestyle, sports, entertainment, transportation, telecommunications, employment, ESL, housing, Canadian lifestyles, health, finances, ethnic media and education Useful articles on any topic are always welcome.
Try to avoid being too topical while remaining as current as possible. We do not run news articles or announcements, although we may run some commentary on existing or newly announced initiatives.

The magazine is being used as a teaching tool by ESL teachers across the GTA. Regarding vocabulary – try to stick to words on the following word list – www.manythings.org/voa/words.htm. Words that are not on the list are allowable as long as:

• they are essential to the piece ie: words used in quotations or comments by interview subjects or public figures; or the names of things like “Woodbine Avenue” (avenue is not on the vocabulary list) or“Accreditation Assistance Centre”

• words that are simple variations on words that are on the list. For instance, assist is on the list, so assisted, assistance and assistant are all acceptable as long as readers can figure them out by the “context” in which they were used.

• words that are self-explanatory or defined by the context in which they are used, like “shoelaces” or “roadside” in the phrase “emergency roadside assistance”.

• words that are simple enough to be on the list, especially common nouns like “jacket” or “ice cream”.

Be sparing in use of slang and common expressions like “just a stone’s throw away” or “got it made”.

f you follow these guidelines, you will be writing at a Canadian Language Benchmark level of 6 or 7.

If you can write even more simply than that – please do.

It would be wise to query (send us a letter to find out if we are interested) first – to avoid overlap with articles that have already been assigned or covered in previous issues or which may already be bought or assigned for future issues. We would also be better able to give you a timeline regarding when such an article might be used (when it would fit into the theme of a particular issue).

We will also consider unsolicited submissions that are sent to us “on spec”.

Issue 7 will be primarily about credit and financial issues, issue 8 will be split between the topics of housing and education. Articles about topics unrelated to the main theme will run in every issue.

We do not give assignments to writers who have not written for us before, so until you break in, all articles are “on spec”.